Buddy Movies (1/11 - 3/11)

Thelma & Louise had come up as a Road Trip option, but instead of watching it in the fall, we held it for the next series: buddy movies! The only criteria here was that both buddies have to be named in the movie title. They don't have to both be human; we're a species-neutral establishment here.

1. Rubin and Ed (1991)
   
   
2. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997)
   
   
3. Thelma & Louise (1991)
   
   
4. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
   
   
5. Starsky & Hutch (2004)
   
   
6. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
   
   

P.S. Thanks to Anika and Kirby for taking on the job of movie selection!

Road Trips (10/10 - 12/10)

Summertime inspired us to do a series about road trips, with a variety of vehicles (van to motorcycle to 18-wheeler) and a variety of journeys (literal and personal). The list to choose from was really long, but here were the selected ones:

1. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) -- it just doesn't get old!
   
   
2. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) -- the backstory of Che in South America.
   
   
3. Detroit Rock City (1999) -- I don't know what to say about this one.
   
   
4. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) -- ah, the '70s.
   
   
5. The Sure Thing (1985) -- this is the one movie that I can quote (which hopefully wasn't annoying).
   
   
6. The Muppet Movie (1979) -- who knew we'd remember so many of the songs?
   
   
7. Over the Top (1987) -- Stallone + trucks + arm wrestling. 'Nuff said.

RIP John Hughes (4/10 - 5/10)

In honor of the guy who taught us (for better or for worse) about high school, love, life, underdogs, girls, boys, detention, railroad tracks, road trips, family, etc... we did a John Hughes series.

Surprisingly to many of us, he was not just a director (D) - he wrote (W) many movies as well!

1. Mr. Mom (1983, W)
   
   
2. Vacation (1983, W)
   
   
3. Double Feature: The Breakfast Club (1985, D/W) and Sixteen Candles (1984, D/W)
   
   
4. Double Feature: Some Kind of Wonderful (1987, W) and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987, D/W)
   
   
5. Double Feature: Weird Science (1985, D/W) and The Great Outdoors (1988, W)

It's amazing how many careers were launched (or cemented) through those movies.

Foreign Flicks (2/10 - 3/10)

We kicked off the year with a short modern foreign film fest:

1. The Counterfeiters ("Die Fälscher"), 2007, Austria
   
   
2. Men at Work ("Kargaran mashghoole karand"), 2006, Iran
   
   
3. The Barbarian Invasions ("Les invasions barbares"), 2003, France
   
   
4. Departures ("Okuribito"), 2008, Japan
   

7 years and counting!

This month marks 7 years of the movie series! Wow.

(Mostly) great movies + great friends + delicious veggie tacos = very good times

Documentaries round 2 (10/09 - 2/10)

The votes were cast, and documentaries won. It's been five years since we did a documentary theme, and there are even more movies now to add to the overflow list from last time.

1. Hands on a Hard Body (1997) - out of print - about a Texas radio station's contest to win a truck by being the last person standing touching the truck
2. Bigger Stronger Faster* (2008) - about steroid use in the US
3. This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) - about the MPAA (movie rating industry)
4. Capturing the Friedmans (2003) - about the Friedman family, accused of child pornography
5. The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002) - about Robert Evans (Hollywood actor, director, producer)
6. Helvetica (2007) - about the font!
7. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008) - about the band Anvil. Almost makes Spinal Tap unnecessary. Almost.
8. Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality (2004) - about the psychology and philosophy of death, with local writer/producer Greg Bennick
9. Double feature: A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988) - both were odd and short. [And, as I now know, "A Hard Day's Night" isn't a documentary.]
   

Sports (1/09 - 5/09)

We were sitting around, tossing out ideas for the next series, when it occurred to us that we hadn't ever thought of one of the most obvious themes: sports! We decided to pick one movie from each major sport, hopefully opting for movies that weren't known by heart (i.e., no "Bull Durham"). "Caddyshack" was exempt from that rule, because, well, it has to be the golf movie.

1. Baseball: The Natural (1984)
2. Basketball: Hoosiers (1986)
3. Football: Brian's Song (the remake, 2001)
4. Hockey: Slap Shot (1977)
5. Running: Chariots of Fire (1981)
6. Soccer: La Gran Final (aka The Great Match, 2006)
7. Boxing: Diggstown (1992)

(Skipped a gathering to go see "Unwigged and Unplugged" on stage with the TIST guys. Can laughter be called a sport?)
8. Skateboarding: Thrashin' (1986)
9. Golf: Caddyshack (1980)

Time for a summer hiatus... and figuring out what the next series will be!

Brother Directors (10/18 - 12/08)

Knowing that we have a lot of fans of the Coen brothers and the Farrelly brothers, we thought we'd dig around to find some other sibling pairs. We blurred the lines a bit -- not all of the movies have both brothers directing, but they straddle writer / director / producer roles. There were more pairs out there than we expected!

1. Farrellys: Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
2. Coens: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
3. Zuckers: The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
4. Hughes: Menace II Society (1993)
5. Wachowski: V for Vendetta (2005)
6. Pang: Bangkok Dangerous (1999) - not the Nic Cage remake!

We stopped there, but here are a few other powerhouse pairs to check out:

• Hennegans ("The First Saturday in May")
• Wayans ("Don't Be a Menace to South Central...")
• Weitzes ("American Pie" and "About a Boy")
• Weinsteins ("Playing for Keeps")
• Shaws (kung fu movies)
• Quays (old animated movies)

Spy Thrillers (1/08 - 5/08)

The next genre we picked was spy thrillers, from the old-school to the new-wave, from the comic to the bizarre.

1. The 39 Steps (1935)

2. Ronin (1998)

3. From Russia with Love (1963)

4. Sneakers (1992)

5. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

6. Spies Like Us (1985)

7. The Bourne Identity (2002)

(Incidentally, I like all of the Bourne movies, and I can't say that about many other trilogies. Maybe Back to the Future and LOTR. Before AC can comment, I'll 'fess up that I haven't seen the Godfather II and III, but that doesn't bode well for me adding it to the list. Star Wars and Harry Potter go beyond trilogies, but I still don't think they're as consistently good. Same holds for Indiana Jones, Ocean's 11/12/13, the Die Hards, and the Matrix flicks. In my humble opinion, of course.)

Christopher Walken (10/07 - 1/08)

After some discussion, the idea came up to pick someone who tends to have supporting or bit parts in cool movies. Although Steve Buscemi was high on the list, crazy Christopher Walken won out.

1. King of New York (1990)
2. The Rundown (2003)
3. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
4. Hairspray (2007)
5. Romance & Cigarettes (2005) - this one we went to see at the Varsity Theatre, finally hitting the screens after years of delay
6. Saturday Night Live: The Best of Christopher Walken (2004) - more cowbell!

One of the things we noticed (and loved) about CW is that he almost always manages to dance in his projects. Too too great! One of the best examples is the video to "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim (2001): http://www.astralwerks.com/fbs/woc/

Animation (3/07 - 6/07)

With the rise in Japanese animation, and the ever-expanding Pixar/Disney conglomerate, we decided to feature a short series of animated movies next.

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) plus two shorts: Boundin' (2003) and Creature Comforts (1989)
2. Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka, 1988) and Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)
3. Toy Story 2 (1999)
4. The Iron Giant (1999)
5. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
6. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi, 2001)
7. Cowboy Bebop (Kaubôi bibappu: Tengoku no tobira, 2001)

I have to say, though: I think The Incredibles (2004) is still the best of the best.

Obscure Grab Bag (9/06 - 2/07)

With a core group of 6 - 8 people, we figured it'd be fun to have each person bring one movie from his/her personal collection to show to the group. The one parameter: it needed to be a film that most other people wouldn't have seen. Before the movie was played, the owner explained (in 3 sentences or less) why they like/love/own it.

1. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - AC
2. His Girl Friday (1940) - me
3. Oldboy (2003) - CL
4. Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) - JC
5. Two Hands (1999) - JB
6. Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) - KJ
7. The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) - AL and SP
8. The Bounty (1984) - KA

I may be one of the only ones who went out and rented the first "Breakin'" soon after...